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Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 01:02 PM
I have been recently tasked with building a level 17 monk/psychic warrior gestalt.
The Psy-warrior being used is the beta one made by dreamscarred (http://www.dreamscarredpress.com/dragonfly/ForumsPro/viewtopic/t=756.html), no multiclassing.

The base race is elf(+2dex,-2con,+2int, Low-light vision, +2 to perception and weapon finesse to any weapon with which he is proficient).
The overall feel of the build prizes stealth. I'll greatly appreciate any ideas thrown this way, for I won't be comfortable with the character without at least three or four different shots at the concept. The stat array is {18,18,17,16,15,14}. Estimated wealth of a level 5 character

Thanks in advance to anyone that helps :D

My first attempt will involve Assassin and Brawler paths, and the powers assist in the lack of equipment and stealth, with a skillset similar to that of a rogue's. Probably gonna have a psicrystal too.

Tinydwarfman
2010-06-22, 04:36 PM
I'm sorry, but what?!? You're gestlating monk and psywar? Unless there's some reason why you can't, take tashalatora and get rid of all but 2 (or maybe 6 if you really like it) of those monk levels.

Also, any reason for not using the normal Psywar? The original class was pretty awesome and balanced as it was.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 04:57 PM
It's arbitrary.

Kaiyanwang
2010-06-22, 05:02 PM
Also, any reason for not using the normal Psywar? The original class was pretty awesome and balanced as it was.

At first glance it does not seem to me that he loses something compared to the SRD Psywar.. Am I wrong?

Assuming, of course, that Psionic Powers remain the same..

Keld Denar
2010-06-22, 05:05 PM
I see a desire for Dex focus, but most of what makes a Monk/PsyWar good is stacking size mods (virtual and real) to get REALLY big fists. As your size goes up, your dex goes down. This promotes Str focus while somewhat or completely dumping Dex.

Now, you could go the other way and focus on reducing your size which will greatly increase your AC and to hit, but then you are gonna have to figure out a way to increase your damage independantly of your size. Outside of Knowledge Devotion or Martial Study + Martial Stance + Shadow Blade, I can't think of any way to make this idea be any more than a pesky misquitto.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 05:14 PM
Knowledge devotion is a start. Now, please, if I wanted to ask whether or not this is optimal, or how bad monks are, I wouldn't have made this thread. I just want ideas on how to build a monk/psiW gestalt with those guidelines.

Optimystik
2010-06-22, 05:22 PM
Any chance you could summarize what separates this Psywar from the regular one? I'm very iffy about downloading zips.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 05:38 PM
In addition to what the 3.5 Psychic warrior is, the pathfinder's PsyW also chooses a "Path" on the first level. A Path grants you two bonus powers, a trance (like ToB stances) that works as long as you have your psionic focus, a maneuver that expends your psionic focus, and stackable bonuses to skills from the chosen path.

Later on he can choose a second path, and learn to have both paths active at the same time for a short while. At level 20 they get a super sayajin mode: Wis modifier is added to attack, damage, ac, speed, saves, initiative, skill checks and ability checks

Keld Denar
2010-06-22, 05:56 PM
I wasn't commenting on what you say I was commenting on...just trying to figure out what your focus is supposed to be.

As I said, I see a desire for a dex-centric power base, but everything I'd suggest for a psywar or a monk involves size and str increases which negates the desire to be dex focused.

So what are you looking for? A way to increase damage without increasing size?

If you have a sympathetic wizard friend, you could do ok manifesting Compression on yourself to become small or smaller (and thus increasing your dex and gaining size bonuses to AC and hit), and then relying on virtual size increases like Imp Natural Attack, Superior Unarmed Strike, and Greater Mighty Wallop (especially GMWallop) to normalize you out. If you don't have access to someone who will cast GMWallop on you, you'll be tougher to hit (especially with Greater Concealing Amorphia and such) but you won't be able to contribute very well in melee other than soaking attacks.

That, or find a source of non-class dependant damage. If you can get at least 1d6 of Sneak Attack, you could take Craven, a very decent source of damage. You can get SA by taking Martial Study (any Shadow Hand, maybe Cloak of Deception), Martial Stance (Assassin's Stance, ECL10 or higher), and then Craven and/or Shadow Blade. Thats quite a bit of feat investment though, and peaks rather late.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 06:02 PM
Oh, that was more broad and pointed at someone else :p
When I was given the concept, I thought of a rogue. It's a guy that gets almost anywhere, and his combat is resumed to disabling enemies to the best of his ability and running away. When forced to fight, I suppose an extension of such disablement is a good idea. Raw damage doesn't seem to be his thing.

The Cat Goddess
2010-06-22, 06:22 PM
Disabling? Then a Tripper-Build (Size helps here) could be what you want.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 06:26 PM
Yeah, overall a monk will have a nice check for those maneuvers, so i'm thinking something on the lines of improving grapple and trip, and his default escape plan would be pinning and tieing up people. Probably throwing them in dark corners ._. On the PsyW side, annoying stuff like Strength of my Enemy, Inconstant Location, Vampiric blade and grip of iron. Won't have the time to figure out if a psicrystal is a good idea or not till I get home.

Keld Denar
2010-06-22, 06:34 PM
If you want to go the grapple route, there are a number of things that work well. GET CONSTRICT!!!! Its the best ability in the game for a grappler. The 2 best ways to get it are via the Crushing Roots of the Mountain stance (Stone Dragon 3, needs Martial Study + Martial Stance at ECL10+) or the Kraken Mantle bound to the Arms Chakra (Shape Soulmeld + Open Lesser Chakra(Arms), or Psionic Open Chakra (PsyWar4) + Midnight Augementation).

Constrict is just plain fun. Any time you win a grapple check, you do damage. If you grapple to do damage, CONSTRICT. If you grapple to move the grapple, CONSTRICT. If you grapple to pin your foe, CONSTRICT. If your foe attempts to escape but fails, CONSTRICT! Think of it as a choak hold.

Outside of that, Aberrant Blood (Flexible Limbs) gives you a +2 unnamed bonus to grapple. If you take that, 1 more feat gives you Inhuman Reach for 10' reach as medium size. If you take one more feat from there, Deepspawn gives you another +2 unnamed bonus to grapple, AND 2 tenticle natural weapons. Everything is better with tenticles. Check out Person_Man's guide to melee combat for a list of a dozen other things that increase your grapple checks. Good stuff there.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 06:37 PM
I'll see if it's feasible, it not, Brawler Path's stance lets you do your wis modifier as damage every round you're involved in a grapple, which helps.

Lycanthromancer
2010-06-22, 06:37 PM
Yeah, overall a monk will have a nice check for those maneuvers, so i'm thinking something on the lines of improving grapple and trip, and his default escape plan would be pinning and tieing up people. Probably throwing them in dark corners ._. On the PsyW side, annoying stuff like Strength of my Enemy, Inconstant Location, Vampiric blade and grip of iron. Won't have the time to figure out if a psicrystal is a good idea or not till I get home.Psicrystals are ALWAYS a good idea.

AL. WAYS.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-22, 06:39 PM
<giggle> I'm only vaguely familiar with them. The two things that crossed my mind with the Pet Rock are Vigor/Containment to keep focus and share some damage, but i'm not sure how evident such contingency will be.